Farmland

With just two weeks of riding left before i leave on the TransAm ride, i'm supposed to be out there riding 50 miles a day with all my panniers on board and loaded. But, i'm not. Riding in these constant winds is already hard enough, i just can't make myself add to the work load by hanging 4 sails on the side of my bike. I do ride with my small(ish) run around town library/grocery store panniers, but i carry those just to hold a jacket, my thermos of tea, and some lunch.

These flags can tell you more about today's winds than a paragraph of my words. I snapped this on the way home, so this is what i was fighting all the way south and southeast, and as crosswinds on the western portions of the ride back home.




Then to top it off, i got curious about a road i hadn't ridden on before, and after a few miles, .... it turned into a gravel road; rather new gravel, so thick and soft from time to time. Needless to say, it wasn't fast (i ended up in 1st gear plodding along at about 5 mph) — although the scenery was beautiful.




I'm a farm boy at heart, i think, because i feel very comfortable when there are farms and fields around. For most of my rides, since i ride to the south, this is what i see:



With another sheepish grin, i'll confess that i threw in the towel early today and came home after 38 miles, even though it felt like 58 miles and i'm pooped.